Early
this year, former Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza dangled federalism as a key to
unlock the deadlock in the GRP-MILF talks over the territory that would form
ancestral domain. The idea was for a single amendment of the Constitution,
which would create a federal state for Muslim Mindanao. However, the MILF leaders saw the offer as a
trick. Opposition leaders concurred, claiming that the revival of Charter
change or Cha-cha, which coincided with the Senate investigations of the
scandalous $329-million National Broadband Network deal with the Chinese ZTE
corporation, was a Malacañang ploy to distract attention. Worse, Cha-cha would simply be a way to remove
term limits. Thus, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo could stay in power beyond 2010, this time under a parliamentary setup.

However,
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel, Jr. believes that Cha-cha, which would focus on the adoption of
a federal system, is the best way to jumpstart the stalled peace negotiation. Manong
Nene maintains that the shift to a federal system of government will accomplish
two main goals: economic development of the entire country, and the elimination
of the root causes of rebellion, particularly in Mindanao.

Senator
Pimentel filed Senate Resolution No. 10, now supported by 16 senators, calling
for amendments to the 1987 Constitution for the adoption of a federal system of
government through a constituent assembly. Mr. Pimentel proposes the creation
of eleven states out of the Republic, which "would establish centers of
finance and development in the archipelago." The current system
concentrates too much power in the hands of central government, leading to the
abuses of power being investigated by the Senate.

Senator Pimentel maintains that the shift to a federal system of government
will accomplish two main goals: economic development of the entire country, and
the elimination of the root causes of rebellion, particularly in Mindanao.

Gen.
Rodolfo Garcia, chair of the government panel in the peace talks with the MILF,
has commented that said the federalism option has to be approved by the MILF in
peace talks and cannot be unilaterally offered.
General Garcia did, however, feel that federalism is a solution to the
deadlock, one which the government can support since it would follow
constitutional processes.

Even
MNLF Chair Nur Misuari, triumphant after the successful MNLF Peace Congress
last week, which drew over 50,000 MNLF and MNLF supporter from all over Mindanao,
supports the federalism proposal. Two
weeks ago, Mr. Misuari met with Davao Congressman and House Speaker Prospero
Nograles. The two discussed the Pimentel
proposal. Chairman Misuari is reported
to have agreed to the proposal. However,
in a conversation I had with the MNLF chairman, he said he would support a
federalism proposal only if fewer states will be created. He believes there should be three states:
Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Muslim
Mindanao can be a special region of autonomy in Mindanao, but clothed with real
powers.

I can
empathize with MILF advisor Michael Mastura when he asks, “Why does the
government prefer to disrupt the procedural steps of the peace talks while
redirecting the MILF side’s position to be locked into the constitutional
mandate?”

Manong
Nene, can Cha-cha be safeguarded? Will a
shift to federalism truly allow Muslim Mindanao to exert their right to
self-determination, a core demand of the MILF? Will a change in political
system provide more powers to the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao? Or will tinkering with the system become an
opportunity to take away power already granted under the Organic Act? What
guarantees do we have that ARMM will not become an even weaker vessel than it
already is, even less autonomous than the non-autonomous administrative
regions? On paper, the Organic Act
already allows the ARMM government – with its Regional Legislative Assembly –
to chart its own course. On paper, ARMM
is supposed to be free of the control that the central government normally
wields over the 15 administrative regions of the country.

Will
a shift to federalism truly allow Muslim Mindanao to exert their right to
self-determination, a core demand of the MILF? Will a change in political
system provide more powers to the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao?

Clearly,
if the puppeteers in the Palace control the implementers, no amount of power
provided on paper will benefit ARMM. My friend Benny Bacani, executive director
of the Institute of Autonomy and Governance, points out: “The problem does not
lie in the structures of autonomy but in the Malacañang-anointed regional
leadership that is unwilling to exercise in full the powers already.” Benny is one of the Cotabato City legal
experts in touch with the MILF.

In the
meantime, a bomb explosion on Thursday outside the Colonel Edwin Andrews Air
Base (EAAB) in Zamboanga City has claimed 3 casualties and wounded 23. The MILF
has been accused by the military. Khaled
Musa, deputy chairman of the MILF committee on information, has denounced the
allegation and condemned the attack.

A way
back to peace is imperative. The government and the MILF must return to the
negotiating table. Perhaps it is time to
suspend our suspicions and investigate the federalist option offered by Senate
Resolution 10. # # #